There are at least possible reasons for buying a “Leonhardt 80” Caps jersey. You could, like Eric Boshoven, want to pay touching tribute to one of the craziest NHL stories of the year, the one in which a Web producer went from the cubicle to the bench as a backup NHL goalie.

Or you could be more like Mark Kinnear, a 41-year old season ticket holder from Parkville who also spent about $140 to outfit himself in the answer to a trivia question. Why did he do it?

“I was home one night, probably had a few too many,” Kinnear told me, “and I was like, ‘What the [bleep]?’ “

Q: ...I must say, this year team is even more interesting to me than the Orr/Esposito days, in terms of a total team working effort. I think the missing link to the Stanley Cup is another offensive defenseman like Jay Bouwmeester, from the Florida Panthers. My question is, what would it take to get this stud, his skating abilities are amazing, taking one stride to every two or three for other skaters? This would be the final piece of the puzzle as far as I am concerned. What are your thoughts about this?

A: There’s no doubting that Bouwmeester would help this club right now. However, there are two issues. First, what do you give up for him? Second, how do you re-sign him after this season? I think the second issue is more critical than the first. Given Bouwmeester’s pedigree, history, and future performance, the conversation starts at $6 million per season. It would be awful tough for the Bruins to slot in another high-end salary when they have other players to lock up first. Going back to the first issue, Florida would ask for either Blake Wheeler or Milan Lucic, a prospect, and a first-round pick.

“Anything wrong with your foot?” I asked him (Doug Harvey) shortly before the game.

“Naw, just a little stiff,” he said.

“Have you had an X-ray?”

“Yup, nothing there,” he replied.

“You’ve got only three defensemen,” he was told. “What are you guys going to do?”

“I guess we’ll play,” he said with a shrug.

Harvey was on the ice for 51 minutes that night. He was in the penalty box for four minutes. The Canadiens won 3-1. Ten days later, X-rays revealed Harvey had been playing with a cracked ankle all that time.

The official reason for Lidstrom’s absence is a lingering elbow injury. It’s just not one that will keep him out of any meaningful games. Datsyuk left the Red Wings game in the third period Tuesday night with a hip pointer, leaving coach Mike Babcock, an assistant with the Western Conference team, as the only representative from the Red Wings involved in all-star weekend.

But it’s clear Lidstrom could have played in his 10th All-Star Game if he really wanted to. Perhaps he was concerned the league would spell his name “Lindstrom” on the back of his Western Conference sweater.

The NHL, meanwhile, grumbles about these things privately and basically allows this stuff to happen. The reality is if a player essentially doesn’t feel like playing in the All-Star Game or the YoungStars Game, he doesn’t have to do so. In fact, a lot of NHL teams are just as guilty as the players. They have no problem having them in the lineup before and after the All-Star Game, but often put pressure on their best players to skip the event.

Via press release, the Sabres confirmed what their schedule has shown for some time - that the next four Sabres games will not be televised.

“Out of our 82-game schedule, the MSG Network has broadcast rights to 70, and the Versus Network has rights to a maximum of eight,” said Larry Quinn, Buffalo’s minority owner/managing partner. “As such, we needed to select four games to be radio only. We chose these west coast games due to their late starts.”

Very clever, LQ. It’s MSG’s fault! But you were the one who negotiated the deal with MSG in the first place. You negotiated away the four road games. No city in America draws higher ratings for hockey than Buffalo, but we surely wouldn’t stay up past 10:00 to watch our team, right?

Taking fighting out of the National Hockey League will “rip the fabric out of the game” and empower “the growing rat factor in our league,” Brian Burke says with emotion but not apology.

He is not about to change his view on fighting in hockey.

He believes in it. He welcomes it.

“First off, it’s an important part of our game historically,” said Burke, the president and general manager of the Maple Leafs. “It’s not like I came into the NHL five years ago. I see no reason to change that. That’s No. 1.

“To me, fighting is the mechanism that allows players to regulate the level of violence in the game ... There are already a number of players in our league who flaunt the system. Fighting brings accountability to that ... To me, there is a growing rat factor in our league right now. You know who those players are. I don’t have to name them. But do you want to turn the league over to them?”

Montreal forward Alex Kovalev will be wearing the captain’s “C” in front of the home folks at Sunday’s All-Star Game.

Kovalev was named captain of the Eastern Conference team and San Jose center Joe Thornton will wear the “C” for the Western Conference squad when the NHL holds its 57th All-Star Game at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Certainly he could have left the Flames for more money as a free agent. But he hasn’t. It’s like a job that is not quite complete. And a few of his mentors, Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman and Mario Lemieux, have all played for the same team throughout their career.

“There are a lot of great hockey cities. For the fans and the passion, there isn’t a city that beats Calgary, ” said Iginla when he signed his five-year, $35 million deal in July 2007.

With Iginla looking to lead the Flames for years to come, we thought we should get to know him just a little better and bring you 10 things you should know about Jarome Iginla.

ONE: The name
The birth certificate reads Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla. Born July 1, 1977 in Edmonton. We know him as Jarome or Iggy. Opponents know him as tough and relentless. Iginla, by the way, means ‘Big Tree’ in Yoruba, his father’s native language.